AC Milan will host Lazio at the San Siro on September 12 in the third matchday of the 2021/21 Serie A season.
Following the first two matches of the campaign – which went well for both clubs – the international break commenced, which also brought the transfer market to a close (August 31).
Milan expert Miguel Agyei was able to provide a breakdown of the Rossoneri’s business.
Milan’s main goal this summer consisted of finding a quality starting goalkeeper. This was because Gianluigi Donnarumma did not find an agreement with the club to extend his contract, and as a result, he left on a free transfer to join Ligue 1 side Paris Saint-Germain.
26-year-old French goalkeeper Mike Maignan was purchased from Lille for €13 million + €2 million in bonuses to fill the Italian’s shoes. He developed through the PSG youth sector before joining Lille in 2015 and remaining for six years. Against both Sampdoria and Cagliari, he was highly praised, looking calm and collected between the posts.
Following Maignan, Milan were looking to acquire depth in various positions to sustain the team in case of fatigue and injuries.
In the backend, Milan signed back-up options to Theo Hernandez and Davide Calabria. In the event either player is to pick up an injury, there will be sustainable coverage as Alessandro Florenzi arrived on loan (€1 million fee) from AS Roma and Fodé Ballo-Touré was purchased for a fee of €5 million from AS Monaco.
In the midfield, Tiemoue Bakayoko was signed on a two-year loan deal (€2 million fee) from Chelsea to provide depth for the two central defensive midfielders. This will be his second stint with the Rossoneri following his time with the club during the 2018/29 season. In addition, Yacine Adli was signed for €10 million (including bonuses) from Bordeaux (but was loaned back to the French club for the season) and Brahim Diaz was re-signed on a two-year loan deal from Real Madrid following a successful 2020/21 campaign.
In attack, Olivier Giroud – who was previously linked to both Lazio and Inter Milan – was signed after his contract was mutually terminated with Chelsea. While he will provide support to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, he is likely to play more games due to the Swedish forward’s age and inability to stay fit in recent times. Furthermore, Junior Messias was purchased from Crotone on loan (€2.6 million fee) in the final days of the transfer market to provide additional depth.
Concerning departures this summer transfer window, Diego Laxalt was the only permanent sale. He left the Rossoneri to join Russian Premier League side FC Dynamo Moscow for €3.5 million. However, the most notable exits were those that the club failed to agree on contract extensions with.
While Donnarumma left for PSG, 27-year-old Turkish midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu moved from one side of Milan to the other, joining Inter Milan on a three-year deal. This came as a surprise to fans of each club; the deal was likely facilitated due to Simone Inzaghi’s arrival at the Nerazzurri, who was looking to acquire a profile similar to Luis Alberto.
Other departures included Diogo Dalot returning to Manchester United and Soualiho Meïté returning to Torino (following their season-long loan spells), Tommaso Pobega being loaned out to Torino, Jens Petter Hauge being loaned out to Eintracht Frankfurt, and Mattia Caldara being loaned out to Venezia.
Milan were very active during the transfer market as they managed to address several areas of their squad. They will aim to compete for a top spot in the league, hoping to return to the UEFA Champions League for a consecutive season.
